page_title: Cycling in Melbourne
section_title: Cycling as a sport
hierarchical_section_title: Cycling in Melbourne / Cycling as a sport
caption_attribution_description: English: Hubert Opperman
context_page_description: Cycling in Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria, Australia, is enhanced by the city's relatively flat topography and generally mild climate. The city has an active cycling culture for commuting, recreation, fitness and sport, and the metropolitan area has an extensive network of off-road bicycle paths, as well as designated bicycle lanes on many streets.
  As in most Western cities, commuter cycling in Melbourne saw a dramatic decline in popularity during the 20th century with the coming of mass car-ownership and the resulting urban sprawl, metropolitan Melbourne being one of the lowest density major cities in the world. In addition to this, the introduction of mandatory helmet legislation in the state of Victoria in the early 1990s, the first such legislation in the developed world, further exacerbated the decline in cycling's popularity.
context_section_description: Victoria has produced many cycling athletes of world renown. Sir Hubert Opperman, "Oppy" (1904–1996), is perhaps the most well known and internationally recognised Australian cyclist of the 1920s and 1930s. As an Australian sportsman, his feats in cycling are compared with Sir Donald Bradman in cricket. He set the 24-hour road distance record of 505.75 mi (813.93 km) in 1939; the track record for 24 hours covering 489.3 miles (787.5 km) in 1940. He won the 1928 Bol D'or 24 hour race and the 1931 Paris–Brest–Paris 1,200 km (750 mi) marathon in record time of 49 hours 23 minutes. Many of his long distance records stood for many years. In France and Australia he was feted as a sporting hero, with thousands attending a parade in his honour in Melbourne 1928.
  Post-World War II, Geelong cyclist, Russell Mockridge, was  widely described as "Australia's greatest all-round cyclist for all time". Due to his upper class accent he was initially dubbed Little Lord Fauntleroy, however his race wins soon earned him the nickname of The Geelong Flyer. Tragically, he was killed by a bus in 1958 participating in the 225 km (140 mi) Tour of Gippsland. He was just 2.1 mi (3.4 km) from the start of the race at the Dandenong Rd / Clayton Rd intersection in Melbourne.
  Cycle racing continues to be popular in Melbourne with the Herald Sun Tour, since 1952, bringing professional cyclists from around the world for a multi-stage race around regional Victoria and Melbourne.
  As of 2017, more than 25,000 cyclists, including triathletes and many elite riders, use Beach Road and the Nepean Highway from Black Rock to Mount Eliza on a typical weekend. Each Saturday morning the Hell Ride, a large bunch ride leaves from Black Rock at 7 am. It can contain up to 200 cyclists in summer months with speeds up to 60 km/h (37 mph).  The Hell Ride is a politically contentious topic both amongst Melbourne cyclists and the broader community: most formal cycling organisations discourage their riders from participating, including Cycling Victoria.
  A large number of local cycling clubs organise amateur-level racing, with criteriums mostly held in the summer and the road racing season in the winter months. Coburg Cycling Club, based in the Melbourne northern suburb of Coburg, is one of Australia's oldest cycling clubs. It was  established as a social club in March 1896 by members of the St. Paul's church choir on Sydney Road. Members quickly found themselves participating in all levels of cycle sport. Many cyclists from the Coburg Cycling Club rose to prominence including Ivor 'Snowy' Munro, Ernie Bainbridge, Richard 'Fatty' Lamb, and the 1956 Olympian Richard 'Dick' Ploog.
caption: Sir Hubert Opperman, known as Oppy, was a competitive cyclist of international acclaim.
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